Hampton manager Lochner honored by international group for service

Hampton Township Municipal Manager Chris Lochner was honored recently by the International City Management Association for his 40 years of public service.

Most of Lochner’s career has been spent as the manager of Hampton, with previous work as an intern for the City of Pittsburgh Planning Department and a manager for Edgewood Borough.

“Chris lives and breathes, and bleeds, Hampton Township,” said Michael Peters, former township council president from 2018 through 2021. “He knows everybody and understands what the residents are looking for and the types of services the township should provide and is attuned to providing those services.”

Lochner is a 1976 graduate of Shaler Area High School. He earned his bachelor of arts degree in urban studies and geography from the University of Pittsburgh and a master’s degree in public administration from Pitt’s Graduate School of Public and International Affairs.

While Lochner said he is honored to receive the international recognition from his peers, he said he couldn’t have done it without his staff, township council and his wife — and not necessarily in that order.

During Lochner’s tenure, the township’s residential developments were carefully controlled and flourished.

The township’s municipal operations expanded and became more sophisticated while its facilities, including the crown jewel, the $7.5 million Hampton Community Center and athletic fields complex, sprouted and grew.

As a testament to the council’s planning, along with Lochner’s and the township staff’s work, the community center came in $500,000 under budget.

Ultimately though, Lochner attributes the township’s success as a top residential community to its annual strategic planning sessions he has with council.

“Initially, we took each township department apart and looked at what resources we had and didn’t have,” he said.

When Lochner arrived, there wasn’t a police building, baseball and soccer fields complex, a salt storage facility or a community building.

“I give council a lot of credit,” Lochner said. “They understood the big difference been the 1980s and 1990s with not just recognizing a generation of growth, but the scale of housing was different.”

Larger homes proliferated in the township — and that was planned by council, Lochner said.

Council promoted increased property values by changing the zoning ordinances in 1989 with an emphasis on planned residential communities and larger lots. “With that, you get bigger homes,” he said.

The substantial growth of the township’s property values and careful finances is evident through Lochner’s tenure: When he started working for the township almost 40 years ago, the township’s property taxes were 1.86 mills; today, they have only grown to 2.96 mills.

“In 40 years, that’s a minimal increase,” he said.

In a 2020 report, the median value of Hampton owner-occupied housing units was valued at $274,300, which is more than 1.5 times the value of similar housing in Allegheny County and 1.5 times the value in the state, according to the U.S. Census.

But that was just one side of the township’s growth.

“Council’s position was if we are going to have residents of that caliber, they will expect local government to provide the services they want.”

The township’s facilities and services have expanded as have the township’s administration specialties.

Hampton’s vision statement focuses on the quality of life for its residents and their relationships with businesses.

“People come here to live, and we focus all of our effort on that endeavor,” Lochner said.

But change and adaptations are inevitable in a dynamic community.

Lochner’s extensive experience has been a huge asset, especially for new council members like Peters and other council members who had no municipal experience.

“The big thing I told him when I started was he had to tell me when I was going to do something stupid because he had done it all,” Peters said. “To have somebody with that type of experience is invaluable for whoever is in a leadership position in the township.”

While experience in the same job for decades can cause complacency, Lochner was uniquely flexible and receptive to new ideas, Peters said.

“That is very rare with people with longevity in their careers.”